Day 9, Saturday 26th November - Khubon, Bangkok
Sufferers.......It's been an uncomfortable night for me as you might imagine but my companion has also been suffering with a cough and cold over the last few days. We are still five hours away from Bangkok an it’s unnecessary really to add more site visits. Let's just get back to base and take a break! Having said that there's a great chance of attending another football game tonight which is not very far from where we stay.
Buriram Railway Station.......As we leave Hop Inn early without breakfast the options are still open as we head for the train station which is more about finding something for breakfast than trainspotting noting that I've been here before. There are a couple of things I should mention though about Buriram railway station. One is the fact that this line terminates in Ubon Ratchathani and is not currently scheduled for upgrades unlike the line that runs to Nong Khai which will eventually connect with China through Laos. As we are here a couple of sprinter trains arrive the first dropping off food sellers who arrive from the countryside to sell produce in the town. This is clearly routine as initially there's no need for them to go too far as customers are already waiting at the station forecourt. The sellers will eventually move on to the marketplace hoping to dispose of all of their wares before returning back home.
On Track at Seven.......For us it's something different just sitting on the platform now deserted consuming something we bought from 7-Eleven.
Detour.......OK so now let's just head to Bangkok but my companion has another suggestion and of course it's another temple. I've covered Buriram province pretty well in the past so I need to check my records to make sure we haven't visited it already. Well, we haven't but I would expect this detour to take at least an hour. Although broadly in the direction of travel, this hillside temple is well off the main road and I will have a decision to make. I know this wretched cold will be no better and probably worse by the time I reach Bangkok so it makes no sense going through the same procedure as last night when I could be back at the residence resting up. It's a shame to have to cancel as the venue for this game is pretty close to where we stay. There will be more opportunities so let's see what's at this temple and what it represents. We approach the temple along a difficult road not helped by sludge on the road from nearby quarrying, finding a Phra Non (reclining Buddha) but it's the temple further up the hill that is the attraction here. Finally, I see a signboard which has a most interesting account concerning what this temple and the area around it is all about.
Wat Khao Phra Angkhan.......Wat Khao Phra Angkhan ('angkhan' is Tuesday in Thai with Phra Non as its image posture) lies near an extinct volcano mentioned in the legend That Phanom that in 535 BC, Buddha's ashes were placed here. In 1977 Phra Panyawutthitho came to build a temple on the hilltop and moved the Buddha's ashes to store in the stupa in the top ubosot which was built in a unique style containing Thai arts of various periods. Surrounding the ubosot are ancient sema (boundary) stones from the Dvaravati period made of basalt which is found nowhere else in Thailand. One of the semas has bass reliefs of a person, stupa, lotus and a wheel of Dharma dating back to the 8th - 9th Century A.D. These prove that Buddhism has been practiced here since ancient times.
Khao Phra Angkhan.......Khao Phra Angkhan is a wide based hill formed by a volcanic eruption in the Quaternary Period, approximately 700,000 years ago. From above its shape looks like a garuda spreading its wings with its head pointing to the south. The main vent is at Khao Kraduk (Khao Pa Cha), summit formed by fast cooling lava that vertically accumulated into the form of a plug dome. Around Khao Kraduk is a caldera or depression formed by a collapse of the vent. This is the earliest evidence of a caldera in Thailand. Wat Khao Phra Angkhan is situated on the edge of it.
Back to Base.......Just one attraction like this makes me happy but I'm still suffering from this wretched cold and sleep on and off during the long journey to Bangkok. Again, I must praise my companion for her driving. It's been a long time since I've put in a long distance stint of the type we've had to do recently. She manages consistently to beat the time indicated by the sat NAV but maybe not legally. The result is that we are on the outskirts of Bangkok around 4:00pm but I just couldn't cope with another late night the way I feel. It's far better to do some shopping and get organised and settle in again at the residence. Having said that, the game I thought I might have been watching seems to have been a thriller unlike some of the recent games I've watched but there are sometimes it's just better to have matter over mind for a change.
Conclusion.
Sufferers.......It's been an uncomfortable night for me as you might imagine but my companion has also been suffering with a cough and cold over the last few days. We are still five hours away from Bangkok an it’s unnecessary really to add more site visits. Let's just get back to base and take a break! Having said that there's a great chance of attending another football game tonight which is not very far from where we stay.
Buriram Railway Station.......As we leave Hop Inn early without breakfast the options are still open as we head for the train station which is more about finding something for breakfast than trainspotting noting that I've been here before. There are a couple of things I should mention though about Buriram railway station. One is the fact that this line terminates in Ubon Ratchathani and is not currently scheduled for upgrades unlike the line that runs to Nong Khai which will eventually connect with China through Laos. As we are here a couple of sprinter trains arrive the first dropping off food sellers who arrive from the countryside to sell produce in the town. This is clearly routine as initially there's no need for them to go too far as customers are already waiting at the station forecourt. The sellers will eventually move on to the marketplace hoping to dispose of all of their wares before returning back home.
On Track at Seven.......For us it's something different just sitting on the platform now deserted consuming something we bought from 7-Eleven.
Detour.......OK so now let's just head to Bangkok but my companion has another suggestion and of course it's another temple. I've covered Buriram province pretty well in the past so I need to check my records to make sure we haven't visited it already. Well, we haven't but I would expect this detour to take at least an hour. Although broadly in the direction of travel, this hillside temple is well off the main road and I will have a decision to make. I know this wretched cold will be no better and probably worse by the time I reach Bangkok so it makes no sense going through the same procedure as last night when I could be back at the residence resting up. It's a shame to have to cancel as the venue for this game is pretty close to where we stay. There will be more opportunities so let's see what's at this temple and what it represents. We approach the temple along a difficult road not helped by sludge on the road from nearby quarrying, finding a Phra Non (reclining Buddha) but it's the temple further up the hill that is the attraction here. Finally, I see a signboard which has a most interesting account concerning what this temple and the area around it is all about.
Wat Khao Phra Angkhan.......Wat Khao Phra Angkhan ('angkhan' is Tuesday in Thai with Phra Non as its image posture) lies near an extinct volcano mentioned in the legend That Phanom that in 535 BC, Buddha's ashes were placed here. In 1977 Phra Panyawutthitho came to build a temple on the hilltop and moved the Buddha's ashes to store in the stupa in the top ubosot which was built in a unique style containing Thai arts of various periods. Surrounding the ubosot are ancient sema (boundary) stones from the Dvaravati period made of basalt which is found nowhere else in Thailand. One of the semas has bass reliefs of a person, stupa, lotus and a wheel of Dharma dating back to the 8th - 9th Century A.D. These prove that Buddhism has been practiced here since ancient times.
Khao Phra Angkhan.......Khao Phra Angkhan is a wide based hill formed by a volcanic eruption in the Quaternary Period, approximately 700,000 years ago. From above its shape looks like a garuda spreading its wings with its head pointing to the south. The main vent is at Khao Kraduk (Khao Pa Cha), summit formed by fast cooling lava that vertically accumulated into the form of a plug dome. Around Khao Kraduk is a caldera or depression formed by a collapse of the vent. This is the earliest evidence of a caldera in Thailand. Wat Khao Phra Angkhan is situated on the edge of it.
Back to Base.......Just one attraction like this makes me happy but I'm still suffering from this wretched cold and sleep on and off during the long journey to Bangkok. Again, I must praise my companion for her driving. It's been a long time since I've put in a long distance stint of the type we've had to do recently. She manages consistently to beat the time indicated by the sat NAV but maybe not legally. The result is that we are on the outskirts of Bangkok around 4:00pm but I just couldn't cope with another late night the way I feel. It's far better to do some shopping and get organised and settle in again at the residence. Having said that, the game I thought I might have been watching seems to have been a thriller unlike some of the recent games I've watched but there are sometimes it's just better to have matter over mind for a change.
Conclusion.
Buriram Railway Station
Wat Khao Phra Angkhan, Chaloem Phra Kiat District, Buriram Province
Khao Phra Angkhan, caldera of an extinct volcano, Chaloem Phra Kiat District,
Buriram Province